Socks with Slack’s branding. Image: Slack
Slack’s massive expansion has not gone unnoticed by Silicon Valley’s giants, most notably Amazon, which is potentially eyeing up a bid.
Slack has come a long way since it was first founded as a messaging side-project for a gaming company, spinning off to become its own giant within the productivity software space.
With a number of offices across North America – and its EMEA in Dublin – the company has done enough to convince investors of its worth, announcing a major funding round of $200m back in 2016, valuing it at $3.8bn.
Now, according to Bloomberg, Slack’s success has caught the eye of Amazon, which has begun making enquiries with Slack about a possible takeover.
Sources have said that there is nothing assured just yet and that discussions remain at an early stage, with both spokespeople for Amazon and Slack refusing to comment.
However, if a deal were to go ahead, Slack could receive a new valuation of $9bn.
Rivals hot on its heels
This news comes at a time when Slack finds itself under increasing pressure from rivals in the work messaging space.
Last March, Google announced a new revamped Hangouts, splitting into Meet and Chat. The Chat element is similar to Slack in that is a team messenger service for offices across both desktop and mobile.
Similarly, in 2016, Microsoft revealed its own product called Teams, which has attempted to woo users through its integration with the company’s Office 365 suite of services.
This was just one month after Facebook unveiled its own product, Workplace, which aims to take the appeal of the social network and place it in an office setting, with more than 1,000 companies already signed up.
